We should have the same desire expressed by Sir John A MacDonald to Queen
Victoria, the Mother of Confederation, "to live under the sovereignty
of Your Majesty and your family for ever."
A Christian Monarchist Canadian Tory Blog

After spending six years in Afghanistan as Canada's ambassador to the war-torn country, Conservative MP Chris Alexander says he's still optimistic about future peace in the region.

"Afghanistan made me optimistic. People there have never given up hope," said Mr. Alexander, a rookie MP first elected on May 2, defeating Liberal incumbent Mark Holland in Ajax-Pickering, Ont.

"If you look at the lives of ordinary Afghans, who are trying to get their kids through school, find jobs themselves, or rebuild their houses or develop their agriculture, there has been a huge amount of improvement over the last 10 years by almost any measure."

He noted that the Afghan economy has boomed, roads are being built, medical clinics and schools are being constructed and there's more being done to improve Afghans lives than Canadians know. It's the premise of his new book, The Long Way Back: Afghanistan's Quest for Peace, published by Harper Collins and to be released Sept. 10.

"I have a very strong sense of the achievements which are sometimes mundane in media terms, they're not flashy, but they make a difference to millions of ordinary lives. On that kind of foundation, you can build the rule of law, you can build order and peace," Mr. Alexander said, noting that while peace has yet to be achieved, it's clearer now how to get there.

He told The Hill Times last week that the main issue preventing peace is the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan and how each country deals with the Taliban.

"As I say in the book, reconstruction needs to continue. We do need to continue efforts to eliminating terrorism, we do need to continue to strengthen everyone's ability to protect Afghan civilians, but above and beyond that, there needs to be a big political effort to achieve a settlement between Afghanistan and Pakistan that would ensure that intervention and interference across that border doesn't happen again, but which would also ensure that it is a real border, recognized by both sides," said Mr. Alexander, who serves as Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Defence.